HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinances - No. 1822ORDINANCE NO. 1822
WHEREAS, in 1996, the voters of the State of California approved Proposition 215,
which was codified as Health and Safety Code Section 11362.5, ef seq. and entitled the
Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (“the Act”); and
WHEREAS, the intent of Proposition 215 was to enable persons who are in need of
marijuana for medical purposes to obtain and use it under limited, specified circumstances; and
WHEREAS, on January I, 2004, Senate Bill 420 became effective to clarify the scope of
the Act and to allow cities and counties to adopt and enforce rules and regulations consistent
with SB 420 and the Act; and
WHEREAS, under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is classified as a
Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has no accepted medical use; and
WHEREAS, the City of Lodi (the “City”) has recently received inquiries from members of
the public as to the permitting process and zoning regulations for operating medical marijuana
dispensaries within the City; and
WHEREAS, medical marijuana dispensaries raise issues of first impression for the City,
which currently does not address or regulate in any manner the existence or location of medical
marijuana dispensaries in its Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, based on recent trends, the City believes that it may receive a growing
number of inquiries for such businesses, including an application in the immediate future; and
WHEREAS, other California cities that have permitted the establishment of medical
marijuana dispensaries have witnessed an increase in crime, such as burglaries, robberies, and
the sale of illegal drugs in the areas immediately surrounding such dispensaries; and
WHEREAS, the City must study and analyze concerns about the potential negative
impacts on the public health, safety, and welfare arising from medical marijuana dispensaries,
including, but not limited to, criminal incidents, loitering, disturbing the peace, and property
damage; and
WHEREAS, the City must study the scope of the City’s police power and draft the
necessary municipal code provisions; and
WHEREAS, if medical marijuana dispensaries were allowed to be established in the City
without appropriate regulation, such uses might be established in areas that would conflict with
the General Plan currently under consideration by the Planning Commission and the City
Council, be inconsistent with surrounding uses, or be detrimental to the public health, safety,
and welfare; and if such uses were allowed to proceed as allowed under the current zoning,
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such uses could conflict with, and defeat the purpose of, the proposal to study and adopt new
regulations regarding medical marijuana dispensaries; and
WHEREAS, the issuing of permits, business licenses, or other applicable entitlements
providing for the establishment and/or operation of medical marijuana dispensaries, prior to the
completion of the City’s study of the potential impact of such facilities, poses a current and
immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, and that a temporary moratorium on
the issuance of such permits, licenses, and entitlements is thus necessary; and
WHEREAS, this Ordinance is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) pursuant to Section 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably
foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and Section 15060(c)(3) (the activity is
not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of
Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to
the environment, directly or indirectly; it prevents changes in the environment pending the
completion of the contemplated General Plan adoption and zoning ordinance review; and
WHEREAS, California Government Code §65858 authorizes cities to adopt moratoriums
on land use entitlements in order to study any uses that may be in conflict with a contemplated
general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal; and
WHEREAS, for the protection of the public’s health, safety, and general welfare, the City
desires to adopt this moratorium to maintain the current status quo and to provide time for the
City to study applicable law, a permit or licensing procedure, the appropriate zoning districts for
such uses, and adopt regulatory standards and conditions to be imposed on such operations;
and
WHEREAS, the City desires that such moratorium take effect immediately upon its
adoption in accordance with s36934 of the California Government Code.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE LODl CITY COUNCIL AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Imposition of Moratorium.
A. In accordance with Government Code Section 65858, from and after the date of
this Ordinance, no use permit, variance, building permit, business license, or other applicable
entitlement for use shall be approved or issued for the establishment or operation of a medical
marijuana dispensary for a period of forty-five (45) days.
B. For purposes of this Ordinance, “medical marijuana dispensary” shall mean any
facility or location where a primary caregiver intends to or does make available, sell, transmit,
give, or otherwise provide medical marijuana to two or more of the following: a qualified patient,
a person with an identification card, or a primary caregiver. For purposes of this ordinance, the
terms “primary caregiver,” “qualified patient,” and “identification card” shall have the same
meaning as that set forth in Health and Safety Code Section 11 362.7, ef seq.
C. For purposes of this Ordinance, a medical marijuana dispensary shall not include
the following uses, as long as the location of such uses is otherwise regulated by applicable law
and as long as such use complies strictly with applicable law, including, but not limited to,
Health and Safety Code Section 11362.7, et seq.: (I) a clinic, licensed pursuant to Chapter 1,
Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code (commencing with g1200); (2) a health care facility,
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licensed pursuant to Chapter 2 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code (commencing with
§I 250); (3) a residential care facility for persons with chronic life-threatening illness, licensed
pursuant to Chapter 3.01 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code (commencing with
~1568.01); (4) a residential care facility for the elderly, licensed pursuant to Chapter 3.2 of
Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code (commencing with $1569); or (5) a hospice or home
health agency licensed pursuant to Chapter 8 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code
(commencing with §1725), the owner or operator, or no more than three employees who are
designated by the owner or operator, of the clinic, facility, hospice, or home health agency, if
designated as a primary caregiver by that qualified patient or person with an identification card.
D. This Ordinance is an interim urgency ordinance adopted pursuant to the authority
granted to the City of Lodi by Government Code Section 65858 and is for the immediate
preservation of the public health, safety, and welfare. The City Council of the City of Lodi
hereby finds and declares that there is a need to enact an urgency interim ordinance
establishing a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries, based upon the following
findings:
(1) California cities that have permitted the establishment of medical
marijuana dispensaries have found that such dispensaries have resulted
in negative and harmful secondary effects, such as an increase in crime,
including robberies, burglaries, and sales of illegal drugs in the areas
immediately surrounding medical marijuana dispensaries. This potential
for increased risk of crime and violence presents a clear and immediate
danger to the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of the City
of Lodi; and
The City has recently received inquiries from members of the public as to
the permitting process and zoning regulations for operating medical
marijuana dispensaries within the City; and
The City does not currently have standards in its Municipal Code relating
to the location, operation, and concentration of medical marijuana
dispensaries within the City; and
If medical marijuana dispensaries were allowed to be established without
appropriate review of location and operational criteria and standards,
such uses might be established in areas that would conflict with the
General Plan under consideration by the Planning Commission and the
City Council, be inconsistent with surrounding uses, or could have
potential adverse secondary effects on neighborhoods in the City and be
detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare; and
The failure to adopt this 45-day moratorium may result in significant
irreversible change in the character of the community and the
neighborhood surrounding any marijuana dispensary that would be
allowed to open under the City’s Municipal Code; and
Permitting a marijuana dispensary to open while the City is studying and
considering a new General Plan as well as zoning regulations to regulate
and/or prohibit this use would defeat the purpose of studying these
impacts in the first place; and
(7) As a result of the negative and harmful secondary effects associated with
medical marijuana dispensaries and the current and immediate threat
such secondary effects pose to the public health, safety, and welfare, it is
necessary to establish a temporary, forty-five (45) day moratorium on the
establishment and operation of medical marijuana dispensaries in the
City, pending completion of the City’s study of the potential impacts of
medical marijuana dispensaries and possible amendments to the City’s
Municipal Code.
Section 2. Severabilitv. If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause
or phrase of this Ordinance or any part thereof is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or
invalid or ineffective by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the
validity or effectiveness of the remaining portions of this Ordinance or any part thereof. The City
Council of the City of Lodi hereby declares that it would have passed each section, subsection,
subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase thereof irrespective of the fact that any one
or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases be
declared unconstitutional or invalid or ineffective.
Section 3. No Mandatory Dutv of Care. This Ordinance is not intended to and shall not be
construed or given effect in a manner which imposes upon the City, or any officer or employee
thereof, a mandatory duty of care towards persons or property within the City or outside of the
City so as to provide a basis of civil liability for damages, except as otherwise imposed by law.
Section 4. Conflict. All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are repealed
insofar as such conflict may exist.
Section 5. Effective Date. This urgency Ordinance shall be published one time in the “Lodi
News Sentinel,” a daily newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the City of
Lodi, and shall be in force and take effect immediately from and after its passage and approval
by at least four-fifths vote of the City Council and shall be in effect for forty-five (45) days from
the date of adoption unless extended by the City Council as provided for in Government Code
section 65858.
Approved this I !jth day of April, 2009
ATTH
I Mayor
City Clerk
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State of California
County of San Joaquin, ss.
I, Randi Johl, City Clerk of the City of Lodi, do hereby certify that Ordinance No. 1822
was adopted as an urgency ordinance at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Lodi
held April 15, 2009, and was thereafter passed, adopted, and ordered to print at a regular
meeting of said Council held April 15, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS - Hitchcock, Johnson, Katzakian, and
Mayor Hansen
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS - None
' ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS - Mounce
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS - None
I further certify that Ordinance No. 1822 was approved and signed by the Mayor on the
date of its passage and the same has been published pu a to law. F-9
City Clerk
Approved to Form:
Y
Deputy City Attorney
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